Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness (2017)

Description

Zanele Muholi Somnyama
Ngonyama ArtistNewspaper

Published by Autograph ABP

Published to coincide with a solo exhibition at
Autograph ABP, this issue is dedicated to South African visual activist Zanele
Muholi’s ongoing self-portrait series Somnyama
Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness).

Taken in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa
between 2014 and 2017, each portrait in Somnyama
Ngonyama poses critical questions about social justice, human rights and
contested representations of the black body.

Critically engaged, self-reflective, and
psychologically charged, Zanele Muholi’s black and white portraits are unapologetic in
their directness as she explores different archetypes and personae, offering
visual reflections inspired by personal experiences and socio-political events.
Gazing defiantly at the camera, Muholi continually challenges the viewer’s
perceptions while firmly asserting her cultural identity on her own terms: African,
black, female.

This newspaper features
more than 70 images – many published here for the first time - an extensive
in-conversation between artist and curator, and twenty newly commissioned texts by a
host of international scholars, curators, writers, artists, and activists.

Published to coincide with a solo exhibition at Autograph ABP, this issue is dedicated to South African visual activist Zanele Muholi’s ongoing self-portrait series Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness).

Available exclusively through Autograph ABP, a unique opportunity to own a signed collector’s limited edition print by Zanele Muholi produced especially for Autograph ABP’s exhibition Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness.